How X Factor helped Simon Cowell to a £200m fortune

With Simon Cowell's Britain's Got Talent and X Factor in the news again, our regular Celebrity Money series, focuses on the wealth of the music impresario.

Mr Nice: 'I'm interested only in making money, for myself and the people I work for'

Simon Cowell is - would you believe it - making headlines again.

From sacking Cheryl Cole [How rich is Cheryl Cole?] in the first few days of the debut US series of X Factor last week to a fierce denial of any rigging going on in Britain's Got Talent.

The claims about BGT, which have been fiercely denied, suggest 12-year-old singer Ronan Parke, was already known to Cowell's production company Syco. Parke is the bookies favourite for tomorrow night's final.

Cowell, until now, has steered a shrewd path to mega-wealth through picking future popstars - but rejecting a few winners - and developing entertainment TV shows that can be sold the world-over.

Last month, he soared into the music top 10 of the Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated fortune of £200m.

The Rich List editors estimated Cowell's wealth had increased by £35m on a year earlier, taking him from 11th place to 6th.

The success of X Factor, which has also helped revived the fortunes of struggling ITV, was credited for driving that increase in earnings. The launch of the show in the US will also boost his earnings further this year.

'Simon Cowell owns a share of the programmes he's involved in as well as being in front of the camera. He's busy behind the scenes and also responsible for many of the performers, so he's taking pots of money in all directions,' Rich List editor Ian Coxon told business news agency Bloomberg.

The Britain's Got Talent and X Factor reality entertainment shows, which Cowell devised or certainly fine-tuned (in the case of the former), have propelled the 51-year-old's earnings through the sound barrier over the last few years.

It was revealed in October that he had signed a £100m deal to keep The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent on ITV for another three years.

The money will be split between the TV judge's company Syco and co-producers Talkback Thames. [Read the full story]

Cowell has been responsible for launching the careers and fortunes of contestants such as singers Susan Boyle [How rich is Susan Boyle? ] and Leona Lewis but he has been steadily feathering his own nest in the process.

Their albums, which sold in their millions, were produced by Cowell's own record label Syco.

Midas touch?: He signed hugely successful Westlife, but turned down Spice Girls and Take That

Although Syco is now part of Sony Music, and is said to generate the majority of the Japanese company's annual sales, Cowell is a co-owner and takes a bumper salary.

As part of a deal arranged last year, retail magnate Sir Philip Green has also been brought in as a shareholder and adviser to the venture, which is now the home of X Factor and Britain's Got Talent.

Cowell's earning power will also flourish this year thanks to the launch of the X Factor formula into the lucrative US market. But his influence over the show was bought into question when it was suggested that executives at Fox, the co-producers, were behind the sacking of Cheryl Cole.

The Britain's Got Talent export - America's Got Talent - has already earned Cowell vast sums as executive producer since it launched in the US in 2006. And for eight years until January 2010 he also appeared as a judge American Idol, which has earned him yet more cash (the broadcaster Fox reportedly paid him £22m a year) and widespread recognition.

The former EMI post-room boy, who grew up in Brighton and left school at 16, is now the second highest paid name in the US entertainment industry, behind Oprah Winfrey, according to Forbes magazine.

Happier days: Before Cheryl lost her X Factor

Cowell faced some rocky moments in the past, however.

In 1984 he left EMI (where he had been promoted to talent spotting and artist management) to set up his own record company Fanfare, which had some successful hits over the years until it got into financially difficulties and eventually collapsed in 1989, forcing Cowell to move in with his parents for five years and be bailed out by his dad and a bank loan.

But he picked himself up and eventually took a job with record company BMG (sold to Sony in 2008) where he signed the actors Robson & Jerome to record Unchained Melody, which became the biggest UK hit of 1995. He also discovered and signed the boy band Westlife. But he prefers to draw a veil over the fact that he rejected both Take That and the Spice Girls, proving he does not always spot a winner.

In 2001, Simon Fuller (Cowell's fierce industry rival who did snap up the Spice Girls) recruited Cowell as a judge on his television talent show Pop Idol, which catapulted the master of withering put downs, into the public eye and on the road to riches. When Cowell devised X Factor in 2004, Fuller sued him because of the similarity in format, a tussle that allegedly cost Cowell millions of pounds to settle out of court.

The media mogul is unashamedly motivated by cash and has said in the past: 'I'm interested only in making money, for myself and the people I work for.'

Apart from his music business dealings he also makes money from his 2004 autobiography I Don't Mean To Be Rude, But..., for which he received a rumoured advance of £1.3m.

He doesn't keep all the lucre himself. Cowell famously announced that he paid a UK tax bill in 2006 of £21.7m. But he also supports several charities, particularly those involving animals and children. In early 2010 he spearheaded the production of a celebrity charity song to support the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

But he also enjoys investing and spending on himself. Among his property investments is a brand new luxury £15m Beverly Hills mansion with tanning salon and private cinema, at least one more Hollywood property, a £7.5m house in Holland Park, West London and holiday homes in Malaga and Barbados and an investment property in Dubai.

Give her a ring: With his fiance, make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy

Cowell, who became engaged to make-up artist girlfriend Mezhgan Hussainy in February 2010, also has an expensive taste in cars, last year buying a £750,000 Bugatti Veyron, a £400,000 Rolls Royce, a Bentley convertible and a Ferrari, to name but few.

And the king of television entertainment also spoiled himself - and scores of media and music friends - by lavishing £1m on a party in November 2009 to celebrate his 50th birthday. He is apparently generous to a fault and tends to pick up the bill when out even with equally wealthy celebrity friends. He also splashed out about £250,000 on his mother's 80th birthday party at the Savoy in 2005.

And as for those trademark teeth (a crucial investment for a career on American television) it is estimated that his set of dazzling veneers set him back at least £10,000.